‘FREEDOM’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Imprisonment with the Third Doctor, Jo, the Brigadier, U.N.I.T. and the Master

This story called ‘Freedom’ is by Steve Lyons. It features the Third Doctor, Jo, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Sergeant Benton, U.N.I.T. and the Master, as played by Roger Delgado. This story occurs between ‘The Dæmons’ and ‘The Sea Devils’ where the Master has now become a prisoner on Earth.

Apparently, the Master is held at Stangmoor Prison for a time following his capture and trial. Stangmoor Prison was in ‘The Mind of Evil’. In this story, the Doctor and Jo end up being trapped by the Master when they visit the Freedom Corporation building and are imprisoned inside a construct.

There’s an audiobook for ‘Freedom’ read by Nicholas Courtney, which is available in ‘Tales From The TARDIS: Volume One’. Unfortunately, like ‘Old Flames’ and ‘Stop the Pigeon’, it’s an abridged audiobook reading. The prose version of ‘Freedom’ doesn’t match to Nick Courtney’s reading on audio.

Sophie Aldred also voices Jo Grant in certain scenes of this story. This is baffling, as wouldn’t it have made more sense for Jo to be played by Sophie in every scene; or for the story to be read entirely by Nicholas Courtney? Maybe it would have been better for Jo to be played by Katy Manning instead. 😐

Another thing that frustrates me about this short story is that there are certain scenes written in the present tense instead of the past tense. This is when future scenes of the Doctor and Jo being trapped in the construct are running parallel to the scenes leading up to the Doctor and Jo’s capture.

It’s very jarring when reading the story and it’s even more jarring when hearing it on audio. I would have formatted those future scenes of the Doctor and Jo in the construct in italics; and written them in the past tense instead. The reading and listening experiences of the story’s ending also felt rushed.

‘Freedom’ rating – 6/10